The New Calvinism Considered

Jeremy Walker, New Calvinism Considered: A Personal and Pastoral Assessment (EP Books, 2014). 126pp. $10.99.

If you are wondering what the so-called “New Calvinism” is, Jeremy Walker has just written a short book trying to explain it. In The New Calvinism Considered: A Personal and Pastoral Assessment, Walker explains what the theological hubbub is all about. Walker identifies four characteristics of this movement. First, and most obviously, it is Calvinistic. But its Calvinism tends to be limited to soteriology as there is a good bit of diversity on other aspects of Reformed faith.

Second, the movement is marked by big personalities. “New Calvinism” seems to cluster around celebrity pastors and theologians who serve as theological figureheads for the movement. As a result, Walker alleges a kind of cult of celebrity among the new Calvinists. Indeed, a short appendix to the book includes a seven page list of pastors, preachers, bloggers, and others who are “Individuals of Note” to new Calvinism.    Continue at Denny Burk

This Lent I am Giving Up . . . Reticence

I will make no bones about it: I am an Old World (for which please read 'continental European') Christian, of Puritan inclination, and a Dissenter - specifically, a Particular or Reformed Baptist. That means several things. By conviction and heritage I belong to those who left the Anglican communion as a matter of conscience, sick of its halfway reformation and unwilling to conform to the general shabbiness and unscriptural demands of the Act of Uniformity. My conscience with regard to the extra-Biblical trappings of mere religiosity is tender. My attachment to simplicity of worship as a gathered church is sincere. I am sensitive to those doctrines and practices over which my forefathers spent their energies and shed their tears and sometimes their blood, both from within and then from without the established folds of their day. I see things with an awareness tuned by walking the streets, graveyards and memorials of men and women who suffered and sometimes died for conscience' sake.

Out of such an atmosphere I cannot help but be sickened by the seeming obsession with Lent and Easter at this time of year, and Christmas at the end of the year. Please do not misunderstand me: conscience also demands that - where the cultural vestiges of a more religious society patterned to some extent on the significant events of the life of Christ provide for it - I take every legitimate opportunity to make Christ known. If an ear is even half-opened by circumstance, I willingly and cheerfully speak into it, and seek to make of it a door for the gospel. I do not see the point of making a point by not preaching about the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord if some benighted soul wanders into the church with at least some expectation of hearing about his humiliation and exaltation.  Continue at Jeremy Walker

IMAGE

See  also: To Lent or reLent? Some thoughts on a recent post at The Gospel Coalition

The Clown in the Pulpit

The Scottish preacher and theologian Thomas Chalmers, in a sermon on "The necessity of the Spirit to give effect to the preaching of gospel," declared:

How little must the presence of God be felt in that place, where the high functions of the pulpit are degraded into a stipulated exchange of entertainment, on the one side, and of admiration, on the other! and surely it were a sight to make angels weep, when a weak and vapouring mortal, surrounded by his fellow-sinners, and hastening to the grave and the judgment along with them, finds it a dearer object to his bosom, to regale his hearers by the exhibition of himself, than to do, in plain earnest the work of his Master, and urge on the business of repentance and of faith, by the impressive simplicities of the gospel.

William Plumer, commenting on this, makes clear that no minister should seek to be dull, sour and morose. I do not think that either man would be against the natural use of wholesome humour in its proper place, and to some extent that is a matter of personality. Nevertheless, says Plumer, the preacher should not be "a buffoon, not a jester, not a trifler" (37). Ted Donnelly, in his outstanding volume on heaven and hell (Banner), warns that   Continue at Jeremy Walker

The Hunger Games

The Premise

The Hunger Games trilogy (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay) by Suzanne Collins is a current publishing phenomenon which is now a cinematic phenomenon as well. The series is set in Panem, a dystopian America in which a Capitol governs thirteen Districts, one of which was apparently destroyed after leading a failed Rebellion against the Capitol. That gave rise to the Hunger Games, a reality television experience in which every year two Tributes are randomly selected from the youngsters in each of twelve Districts in a process known as the Reaping. After Training, made beautiful and deadly (or less ugly and inept), the Tributes enter the Arena to fight to the death, played out live to the breathless audience, with regular highlights packages showing the most intense experiences, including the deaths. The process demonstrates the Capitol's absolute hold over the Districts, reminding them of the failure of the Rebellion and the utter desolation of its architects, District Thirteen. Oh, and it is great entertainment.

The Plot (alert: spoilers galore)

Katniss (Kat) Everdeen lost her father (and nearly her mother, at least emotionally and mentally) in a mining accident in District Twelve during her youth. Since then, she has been the driving force of and provider for her family. She and her friend Gale break out of the District to hunt, feeding their families and trading on the black market in a District so poor and pathetic that they have had only one victor in the Hunger Games, a now-perpetual drunk by the name of Haymitch Abernathy.

This year is the first in which Kat's twelve-year old sister Primrose (Prim) is eligible for the Reaping. She is chosen. Katniss, whose attitude to Primrose has been one of absolute protection since her father died, volunteers to replace her. The male choice is Peeta Mellark, who has had a hidden attachment of profound affection to Katniss for as long as he can remember. Haymitch is accustomed to the quick and gruesome deaths of his undernourished and incompetent charges but finds in Katniss and Peeta the possibility of genuine competitors. Katniss and Peeta also have outstanding beauticians and designers who help them to cause a real stir. When Peeta publicly declares his undying love for Katniss, the producers of the Games have a story and an angle.  Continue at Jeremy Walker

When Satan Comes to Church

The famous Welsh preacher, Christmas Evans, once vividly described what he imagined Satan would look like if he came to church:

The way in which a man hears the Gospel is an index to the state of his heart and the nature of his affections and desires. If we were to suppose that Satan came into the congregation, what kind of hearer would he be? He is the inveterate enemy of all truth, righteousness and godliness; and the sanctification of the soul, devotion, and spiritual affections in the worshippers of the house of God vex [annoy] him sorely [greatly]. If one day, then, in human form he took his place amongst the hearers of the everlasting Gospel, we may fancy that, in order to hinder and annoy as much as possible, he would take his seat in a conspicuous place, either under the pulpit or in front of the gallery, before the eyes of all. Then he would pull ugly faces and close his eyes, and appear as if asleep. He would most anxiously guard against giving the slightest indication of being touched by what was said. Not a trace of conviction, submission, peace and joy should on any account ever appear. He would scowl and knit his brows and shake his head, and show every disapproval of the Gospel he hears, as if he would change every man in the place into the same devilish disposition.   Continue at Jeremy Walker

Contextualization vs. representation